Sania and Bhupathi reach maiden French Open final

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi earned themselves a shot at their second Grand Slam title together by breezing into their maiden French Open mixed doubles final, here today.

The seventh seed Indian pair thrashed unseeded Kazak-Italian combination of Galina Voskoboeva and Daniele Bracciali 6-3 6-2 to record a facile victory in an hour and 10 minutes.

It is for the third time that Sania and Bhupathi have reached a Grand Slam final together. They won the 2009 Australia Open and had ended runners-up at the same tournament in 2008.

Sania had become first woman from India to win a Grand Slam in 2009 while Bhupathi has so far won 11 Major titles, seven of which are mixed doubles trophies.

Leander Paes is the most successful Indian tennis player with 13 Grand Slam titles, seven of which are men's doubles trophies with various partners.

Interestingly, Sania and Bhupathi may find their compatriot Leander Paes along with Elena Vesnina as their summit clash opponents.

Russian player Vesnina is Sania's regular partner on the circuit and with Bhupathi she had ended runners-up at last year's Wimbledon championship.

Later today, Paes and Vesnina are playing their semi-final against Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Santiago Gonzalez.

Bhupathi was strong with his serve and Sania was sharp at the net as the Indian duo proved too strong for their rivals.

A Bhupathi volley winner in the seventh game, gave the Indians a commanding 5-2 lead and Sania comfortably served out the match in the next game.

Galina netted a forehand to give Indians their first match-point and Sania hit a crushing backhand winner to seal the issue.